Pause…on behalf of Orphans

Yesterday we completed all we can for our paperwork up to this point.
Now, we can pause.

Pause to breathe.
Pause to reflect.
Pause to pray & fast.

…and it couldn’t come at a better time.

This weekend we are participating in an “Esther Fast”- along with America World staff, our adoption community, and beyond.

Standing together on behalf of the fatherless.

We see in Scripture that Esther called for the people to fast for three days before she went before the king. She says in chapter four, “I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

This type of fast is for a purpose and with others.

How can we pray specifically for orphans across the globe?

Pray for foreign government officials to be convicted of the harm they are doing to orphaned and vulnerable children stuck in institutions with no opportunity to live in a family;

Pray for people around the world to speak up on behalf of orphans and vulnerable children who are hidden from the public and are crying out for a mother and father;

Pray for Haiti to lift or significantly increase their quota;

Pray for children and families stuck in the middle of Russia’s shutdown; and

Pray for wisdom and guidance for our nation’s political leaders to proactively come to the rescue of institutionalized children who have the fundamental right to a family but are being denied by their government.

It’s heartbreaking to know there are millions of children without a family, without someone to care for them. To think that my children could be in a harmful or vulnerable situation right now is frightening. Now it gets personal. (Kinda interesting the things it takes to tug on our own heart strings. It’s not like the orphan crisis is a new “problem”.)

I am pausing this weekend. Praying and fasting for our children and the millions of others.